A gunshot cracked through the air.
"Eyes on me!" Yu Ishigami bellowed. "All of you!"
Every head turned. Where his right hand should have been, cold steel gleamed instead, his arm transformed into the barrel of a heavy machine gun, its surface throwing back the firelight in hard glints.
"That's... his new ability?" Haruno Yukinoshita's eyes went wide, the words slipping out before she could stop them.
Beside her, Shizuka Hiratsuka swallowed hard and muttered to herself, "Something tells me life back in the real world isn't going to be peaceful either."
And who could blame her for thinking it? Even before the crossover, Ishigami had beaten half-senseless anyone who dared badmouth Makoto Nishikado. Now he had superpowers on top of that devotion. The next person to speak ill of Makoto Nishikado wouldn't get a beating. They'd get perforated.
Ishigami snatched up a cup of wine with his free hand and thrust it high above his head. "This world was saved because of one man's sacrifice! So raise your glasses to the great Makoto Nishikado, everyone! That's an order!"
Cups went up across the courtyard. Dozens of eyes turned toward Makoto Nishikado, warm and genuine, voices blending together in a chorus of gratitude.
Off to the side, Haruno kept shooting pointed looks at her younger sister. Catching the signal, Yukino Yukinoshita let out a helpless sigh.
Yukino Yukinoshita caught the signal and sighed. She lifted her own cup with visible reluctance and joined the toast.
The banquet rolled on. Music drifted through the courtyard, lively and bright, stoking the atmosphere higher. Reze stepped into the center of the open space and, carried by the energy of the crowd, launched into a dance.
She moved like light on water, every step magnetic, drawing cheers and whistles from the onlookers.
Not everyone was cheering.
A good number of the women wore expressions that could curdle milk. They all knew exactly who this dazzling dancer was: the woman Makoto Nishikado had taken up with in this world.
The sourest faces of all belonged to Yui Yuigahama, Yumiko Miura, and the other women who were technically twenty-nine now but had never so much as held a man's hand. The indignation gnawed at them. Makoto Nishikado would rather find someone new in a fictional universe than spare them a single glance. The man had no conscience.
The music ended. Reze, utterly unbothered by the daggers aimed at her from every direction, draped herself against Makoto Nishikado's chest.
"How was my dancing, old man?"
He ruffled her hair. "Great. But I need to talk to some people. Go have fun on your own for a bit, alright?"
"Fine, I'll let you off the hook this time."
She gave his arm a playful shake, rose on her toes to press a quick kiss to his cheek, then spun away and jogged over to Yukiko Kudo's side.
Outside of Makoto Nishikado himself, Yukiko was the person Reze knew best here, her former boss. The two of them fell into easy conversation within seconds.
Once the crowd around him thinned, Aki Hayakawa finally saw his opening. He crossed the courtyard in quick strides and stopped in front of Makoto Nishikado.
"Mr. Nishikado, the Gun Devil..."
"You saw what happened." Makoto Nishikado cut him off. "The Gun Devil's power is bound to Ishigami now. I won't let you kill him."
Aki pressed his lips together. A shadow passed over his face, but he didn't argue.
"You've heard the truth about devils by now, haven't you?" Makoto Nishikado continued. "They can't truly die. Kill one and it crawls back out of Hell sooner or later, reborn into the world all over again." He reached out and placed a hand on Aki's shoulder. "I'm not telling you to let go of your hatred. But if you're asking me to choose between you and Ishigami, you already know my answer."
Aki lowered his head, his voice heavy. "Yeah. I understand."
Makoto Nishikado studied him for a moment, then gave his shoulder another pat. "Think of it this way. The Gun Devil's power is fused with Ishigami. It's lost its will, its autonomy. It's being controlled. From a certain angle, isn't that revenge? Someone else pulled the trigger for you, that's all."
Silence. Aki's brow furrowed tight, the war behind his eyes plain to see.
Before he could respond, a small figure burst out of the crowd.
"Aki! The ladies in the kitchen made the best food ever, you gotta come try it!"
His little brother, Taiyo, was tugging at his sleeve.
In the kitchen, Erina Nakiri heard every word. Her foot connected with Taiyo's backside before he knew what hit him. "Who are you calling 'Auntie,' you brat?"
She despised any implication that she was old. She was sixteen, for God's sake. Even counting the years spent in this world, she was only twenty-nine.
Aki rushed over and helped his brother up.
Taiyo didn't seem the least bit fazed. He produced a skewer of grilled meat and held it out. "Here, Aki, try some!"
A small, rare smile crossed Aki's face. He reached for it.
A hand shot in from the side and swiped the skewer clean out of Taiyo's grip.
"Oh man, these are incredible!" Denji crammed the meat into his mouth, sauce smearing across his cheeks, words barely intelligible through the chewing.
"You little..." Aki's eyes bulged, exasperation written across every feature.
But before Denji could take the last bite, a girl with small red horns sprouting from her head materialized from nowhere, snatched the final piece of meat right off the stick, and declared at full volume, "All the grilled meat belongs to me!"
Denji and Aki froze in unison.
"Who the hell are you?" they said together.
The banquet stretched deep into the night. Guests peeled away in ones and twos, some too drunk to stand, others retreating indoors to sleep it off.
When Aki, Himeno, and Kobeni Higashiyama left, each of them had a fluffy husky trotting at the end of a leash. The dogs had belonged to Makima. With her gone, they had no one. Makoto Nishikado decided the Public Safety crew would give them the best homes.
He handed the last husky's leash to Denji with a quiet smile. "This one's yours. And this time, it really is the last time we'll see each other."
"Makoto..." Denji's grip tightened on the leash. His eyes went red in an instant, tears spilling before he could stop them, voice cracking too badly to form words.
"Go on. Don't look back."
Makoto Nishikado gave him a gentle push between the shoulder blades.
Denji bit his lip hard and nodded. One hand pulling the husky, the other scrubbing at his eyes, he turned and walked away fast, his silhouette shrinking into the darkness until it was gone.
Makoto Nishikado watched him disappear into the night, let out a long breath, and dropped to the ground where he stood.
"Thank you, Makoto." The voice came from beside him. Pochita, speaking in human words.
"I didn't do anything." He reached over and scratched the top of Pochita's oversized head.
A pair of tiny arms shot out and latched onto Pochita from the other side.
Makoto Nishikado turned. A little girl with dark brown hair cut to her shoulders, a single tuft of bangs covering her left eye. Beneath it, barely visible, sat a small beauty mark. Her eyes were the most striking thing about her: golden, with concentric rings spiraling inward.
"Good doggy," she cooed, nuzzling against Pochita, her voice soft and sweet.
Those eyes. Those unmistakable golden rings.
"Makima?" The name left his mouth before he could think, tinged with uncertainty.
The girl shook her head gently. One small finger pointed at herself.
"I'm Nayuta."
Pochita glanced sideways at the child clinging to him. "She's the Control Devil. Reincarnated."
He turned back to Makoto Nishikado. "She shouldn't remember anything about Makima. But I think it was her fixation on you that pulled her back. That's why she came here."
Makoto Nishikado smiled. "Not her fixation on you?"
Pochita shook his head, certain. "No. It's you, Makoto."
Makoto Nishikado smiled again and looked down at Nayuta. "Would you like to come with me?"
Nayuta set Pochita down. She flashed a little peace sign, then threw her arms wide and launched herself into his chest.
In that same instant, a sound none of them had heard in over a decade rang through every player's mind.
[Congratulations. Instance cleared: Kill the Control Devil.]
[Congratulations. Instance world fully cleared: Chainsaw Man.]
[MVP: Makoto Nishikado. As MVP, you are granted free passage to and from this fully cleared instance world, as well as the privilege of bringing instance world items and persons into the real world.]
[Initiating transfer to the real world.]
[Countdown: 9... 8... 7...]